


Believe in Forever

by spoowriterfic



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 19:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17249867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoowriterfic/pseuds/spoowriterfic
Summary: Set after the season 3 finale.  Wynonna and Nedley work on a rescue mission.  (Anything more than that would be spoilers.)





	Believe in Forever

**Author's Note:**

> A snapshot of my brain 'round about Christmas Eve:
> 
> My brain: Don't write a post-finale story. Everyone's doing them. You don't need to pile on.
> 
> Also my brain: Also, I'm not gonna let you sleep until you write the first 5,000 words of a post-finale story.
> 
> My brain a couple hours later: Make that the first 6,500 words.
> 
> My brain, on Christmas day, before going to Christmas dinner at a family member's house: Yeah, I'm gonna need you to write another 1,000 or so words.
> 
> It's been a very, very long time since that happened to me, and while the timing was less than ideal, it was almost kind of fun to experience that again.

She’d lost the stairs again.

 

She’d lost the damn _stairs_ again.

 

She’d dragged Nedley back out into the woods straight from Shorty’s, giving him a primer on…well, everything…on the way; he’d taken it all surprisingly well, though after seeing his supernatural hoarder closet, Wynonna wasn’t entirely surprised.

 

They’d circled around for _hours_ ; she knew she was close, but the damn things were nowhere to be found.

 

“Why can’t I _see_ them?!” she’d howled in frustration as the sun began to set. “I could see them when it took her!”

 

Nedley had tilted his head to look at her, going in a breath from comrade in arms to all cop as he asked the most logical, pertinent question: “How’d you find them before?”

 

“Just followed Waverly. Waverly could – can…she _can_ see them. And…so can Nicole, and Robin and Jer…e…my.” Her voice trailed off as the sudden realization hit. “It can’t be. No way. Ooooh, Bunny Loblaw’s gonna love _this_ ,” she crowed, taking off immediately back towards the Homestead, a confused Nedley at her heels.

 

“What does Bunny Loblaw have to do with anything?”

 

“Ooh, just _wait_ till I get to tell that stuck up bitch just who can see the stairs into the Garden of goddamn Eden!” she yelled behind her, ignoring the question in her glee.

 

Because while she might tease Nicole, sometimes mercilessly, she did so because Nicole was family – no one else was afforded that same privilege…especially not a stuck up, judgmental homophobe who actually _meant_ the cutting comments.

 

“Wynonna!”

 

“We have to find them first,” she said, halting abruptly and turning to face him, almost breathless with the realization. “Nicole and Robin and Jeremy. _They_ can find the stairs and then we can save Waverly. A-a-and everybody else.”

 

“Oo…kay. But…how?”

 

“Valdez.”

 

“What?”

 

She ignored the question and led him into the Homestead, walking straight to the stairs and pointing at the name scratched into the wood.

 

“Do you know of someone named Valdez?”

 

In no way did she expect him to answer yes. But he had.

 

Supernatural hoarder closet for the win.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

It took two weeks and three days to track them down, and another two days for them to plan a rescue operation. Two weeks and five days of non-stop work, and Wynonna was beyond grateful for that – because if they stopped, she’d have to take in the _silence_ around them, the empty spaces in the conversation where Jeremy would have made an awkward joke or Waverly would have translated something ancient and obscure without having to resort to taking a picture and reverse-image searching on Google, the pauses where Doc would have offered her a drink or Nicole would have said something sappy just to make Waverly smile.

 

If they stopped, she’d have to begin to deal with the fact that she’d lost her entire family – blood and found alike.

 

They’d holed up at the Homestead after raiding Nedley’s still half-full closet in Nicole’s office; Wynonna had re-buried the talisman, even though she had no idea whether it would work or not – or if it was even _needed_ or not – but it seemed better to be safe than sorry.

 

They’d figured out how to work the cash register at the town’s small grocery store, so they wouldn’t starve to death, and so far the water and electricity were both still working – which was a sign, Nedley said, that maybe it wasn’t the _whole_ Ghost River Triangle that was missing.

 

Thank God Nedley could cook. Sort of.

 

Even after two weeks and five days, the best plan they eventually came up with was “bluff our way inside and figure out the rest later.”

 

As plans went, Wynonna was pretty proud of it.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

She didn’t sleep at all the night before the rescue mission.

 

“ _Listen, can you tell Nicole…?”_

 

Waverly’s plea echoed in her head.

 

Because she’d known.

 

She’d known it was hopeless.

 

She’d given Wynonna hope – _false_ hope, maybe – by asking her to come after her, by giving her a mission to complete to keep her going.

 

But she and Nicole had promised to never lie to each other again.

 

So she’d asked Wynonna to say goodbye for her.

 

Even though Wynonna knew that Waverly _knew_ that losing her would destroy her because Waverly had already faced that herself – months and months and layers of emotion ago, back when there was still just enough _if_ about their relationship that Waverly had thought for even a moment that somehow she couldn’t compare to a ‘gorgeous lady doctor.’

 

But now? Even Mama had known – she’d spent less than five minutes with Nicole and Waverly both before she was thanking Nicole for the happiness she’d brought her daughter.

 

And tomorrow….

 

Tomorrow…she would have to…do it.

 

She’d have to face Nicole and tell her she’d lost Waverly.

 

And though losing Waverly was at the very, very top of “things that sucked about that day,” the thought of what finding out would do to Nicole…that was a damn, _damn_ close second.

 

And the thought of Waverly _knowing_ , of Waverly being alone somewhere in some dark, evil place that had somehow been corrupted by…who, Bulshar?...over the millennia, of Waverly dreading the moment her sister would break her love’s heart?

 

Third place, easily.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The rescue mission went so well that they all left convinced they’d been _allowed_ to leave.

 

Robin, Jeremy, and Nicole were, miraculously, all being kept in the same holding cell. Nedley was sure it was a trap. Wynonna didn’t much care.

 

She picked the lock, pulled the door open, and froze in the door for just a second until Nedley loudly cleared his throat behind her and urged her inside so they wouldn’t be seen.

 

Here it was.

 

Here was the moment where she broke Nicole’s heart.

 

She’d never admit it aloud, of course, but once she’d made her peace with the notion that Nicole wouldn’t be leaving, Nicole had become the closest thing she had to a best friend.

 

And she was going to break her heart.

 

Damn it.

 

It was only just slightly, by the tiniest of miniscule little bits, less awful than breaking Waverly’s heart directly would have been.

 

At least, that was what she told herself.

 

They were in bad shape, all of them. Bedraggled and clearly malnourished. Nicole was still wearing her dirt- and bloodstained uniform; Jeremy and Robin were wearing generic sweatpants and t-shirts. The guys were huddled together on a cot on one side of the room. Nicole sat alone on a cot perpendicular to theirs. There was a third, unused cot on the opposite side of the holding cell.

 

Nicole’s head snapped up as soon as they entered. “Wynonna…” she breathed as though it were a prayer, dropping the two blankets she’d wrapped herself in.

 

And then she looked past Wynonna and saw Nedley…and no one else. And Wynonna saw the moment she realized. Her eyes closed, her breath caught in her throat, and she made one, quiet, pained sound, then asked, “Where is she?”

 

Though it didn’t really sound like a question, Wynonna still couldn’t force herself to answer.

 

She’d drugged them all just so they wouldn’t see her fail, and now looking into Nicole’s eyes as something inside them shattered…she couldn’t answer. She’d done worse than fail.

 

Nicole staggered to her feet, clearly the least well of the three. Wynonna had a sudden, clear memory of suggesting she needed a blood transfusion in the immediate aftermath of Charlie saving her, when a deathly pale Nicole had been nearly unable to sit up unaided. She clearly hadn’t gotten one. “Where _is she_?”

 

She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t do it.

 

Nicole pulled something out of her pocket, brought it to her lips, kissed it, and put it back in her pocket. Then all the softness in her face vanished as she advanced on Wynonna, eyes blazing. “ _Where is she, Wynonna?!”_

 

Wynonna could only stare at her.

 

She had never felt so helpless.

 

“She’s in there. It took her. Didn’t it?” She took a step closer, shaking from head to toe from an excruciating-looking combination of rage and terror. “ ** _Didn’t it, Wynonna?!_** ”

 

“ _Yes!_ All right? It took her. I think it took everyone left in Purgatory. They’re all gone. Except him, for some reason, and you guys. I think you were already gone when it…happened. Him…I don’t know.”

 

Nicole looked very much like she wanted to hit her.

 

Wynonna wasn’t all that surprised to realize she was ready to let her.

 

“I…she needs your help, Nicole,” she said quietly. “I can’t find the stairs. Doc went in after her to protect her, but…but she asked me to come get her. There was a…forcefield thing. It wouldn’t let me past. And now I lost them again.” She was aware of Nedley helping Robin and Jeremy to their feet behind them, but her own world had narrowed to just Nicole’s eyes.

 

Those eyes were a whirlwind of grief and shattered hopes, of anger and pain, and just absolute devastation.

 

God, she hated that she had to do this to her.

 

Nicole inhaled sharply. “I want you to know something,” she said. “And then I’ll let it go until this is over because I know we’re gonna have to work together to fix this. But afterwards? We are going to have a _talk_ , Wynonna Earp, are we clear on that? And you are gonna take it seriously, and you are gonna be one hundred percent _sober_ for it – you hear me?” Wynonna nodded jerkily. “Okay. So here it is. I probably couldn’t have stopped it, but you drugging us? If we don’t get her back, I have to live every day of the rest of my life wondering if I _could have_. Or…even if it could have taken me too so she wouldn’t be…. Every day. Every _day_ , Wynonna. I have to _wonder_ when at least I would’ve known, one way or the other.” Nicole sniffed. “I don’t know if I can forgive you for that. You need to know that now.”

 

“That’s fair,” Wynonna said hoarsely. “She, um, told me to tell you…something. I wouldn’t let her finish. The way she said it? It was probably something about a butt tattoo.”

 

Nicole’s eyes had drifted away; she showed no sign of having heard Wynonna’s words or realizing they were meant to be an inside joke to cheer her up. One hand was in her pocket, and she glanced over to Jeremy, who came up and put an arm around her. “I didn’t want to have this in common with her mom,” she told him quietly.

 

Jeremy just nodded and squeezed her tighter. Robin came up on the other side and put a hand on her shoulder. She leaned into Jeremy just slightly and closed her eyes.

 

Wynonna winced, realizing for the first time that for the past two weeks and six days, at least Robin and Jeremy had had each other. Nicole, on the other hand, had been in this hellhole alone, wondering the whole time if the love of her life was alive, dead, or some sort of godawful human/angel statue doing the job her father was meant to be doing.

 

At least, it appeared, Jeremy and Robin had realized it; they were clearly trying to do the best they could for her.

 

“We need to go,” Nedley said, breaking the tableau and hustling Robin and Jeremy out the door in front of him.

 

Wynonna pushed Nicole ahead of her. “Come on,” she said. Nicole stumbled more than once as they made their way outside, but Robin and Jeremy walked on either side of her – as though they knew to expect that, Wynonna couldn’t help but note – and caught her every time.

 

As they clambered into Nedley’s car, Wynonna thought she heard Nicole mutter something to herself that sounded an awful lot like, “I would’ve said yes.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

They waited another week over Nicole’s strong objections – but Jeremy, Robin, and Nicole in particular all needed sleep and time to recover their strength, and they needed some kind of plan.

 

Nicole was in rough shape. Robin had said they’d gotten very little in the way of food during their captivity – the stereotypical bread and water, and that only once a day – and even Wynonna, though she didn’t know much about medicine, knew that that would in no way replace what she’d lost when she’d been stabbed.

 

Nedley was nearly frantic over her, in his quiet, understated, _Nedley_ way. He slept on an air mattress in the living room next to the couch where Nicole insisted on sleeping. He forced her to eat full meals every couple of hours, made her kale and spinach smoothies – which was when Wynonna realized he’d come to the same conclusion about blood loss as she had – and had even gotten her iron supplements from the deserted pharmacy, though she’d had to stop taking them when they made her so nauseated that she couldn’t manage to eat anything else.

 

He’d even brought Calamity Jane to the Homestead, as well as the scratching post he’d gotten her when Nicole had been last in the hospital, but it sat unused because so far she hadn’t left Nicole’s side for more than a few minutes at a time, and that only when Nedley was nearby with a treat in his hand.

 

She spent most of the day resting on the couch at the Homestead and poring over the research Waverly and Jeremy had done on the Garden, a very relieved Calamity Jane purring on her lap.

 

It was eye-opening.

 

She’d always known Waverly was brilliant, but looking through her meticulous research, Nicole was gaining an entirely new appreciation for her mind. She had a way of seeing past extraneous information and going right for the heart of the matter.

 

She resolved, when – not if, _when_ – they got Waverly back, to ask if she might not want to try for a master’s degree, or even a PhD, online. She’d gotten the impression that Waverly felt a little…self-conscious…about her degrees, because this was not a town that valued book learning, but Nicole was determined to let Waverly pursue whatever she wanted to pursue.

 

Then, three weeks and six days after the Garden took Waverly, they headed out into the woods.

 

Their plan, perhaps not surprisingly, basically consisted of “go to the stairs and get Waverly and Doc back somehow.”

 

“How’re we gonna get inside?” Jeremy asked.

 

No one thought it was unusual in any way at all that he’d just now thought to ask.

 

“I’m hoping this’ll work like a key,” Nicole, who was struggling to keep up with them, gasped, holding up…

 

“…is that the ring?” Wynonna said in surprise. “I thought….”

 

“Waverly gave it to me…right before you drugged us,” Nicole said flatly. Everyone else exchanged glances, but Nicole refused to meet any of their eyes. “I’m not answering that,” she said, “until I can answer _her_.” She glanced at Wynonna. “That interrupting thing of yours _really_ has to stop, Earp.”

 

“Sorry, dude.”

 

“There,” Nicole said, pointing to the right and collapsing to the ground in a heap as they all clustered around her to give her time to catch her breath.

 

She’d kept to what she’d said in the holding cell: she’d been stolid, reliable, dependable. She made sure Wynonna ate actual food every time Wynonna or Nedley made _her_ eat; she made Wynonna sleep when she slept. She’d gone over plans with Nedley, looked through research with Jeremy, and, with Nedley’s help when her slowly-recovering body reached its limits, gamely instructed Robin in self-defense and how to shoot a gun.

 

But there was a barrier there between her and Wynonna that would only come down after all of this was over, for good or bad, and they talked about the day the Garden had taken Waverly.

 

Jeremy and Robin sat cross-legged next to Nicole. Jeremy offered her a bottle of water, and Robin pulled out a granola bar from his backpack and pressed it into her hand when she tried to refuse it. They’d come out of their ordeal closer than ever, it seemed, and it cheered Wynonna to know that Nicole had some support, since she’d politely but firmly rebuffed any of Wynonna’s admittedly clumsy attempts to be there for her.

 

Meanwhile, she and Nedley looked around the clearing they were all sitting in. “So…where are the stairs?” she asked after they both confirmed to each other that all they could see was dirt and trees.

 

As she suspected, the other three glanced at each other and frowned, before they, as one, pointed to their right and said, “Right there,” as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

 

Despite it all, Wynonna began to laugh.

 

“We have _got_ to get everybody back, because I can _not_ _wait_ to tell Bunny Loblaw that all of you Adam and Steve people are the only ones who can see the stairs!”

 

Nicole snorted. “No Steve for me, please.”

 

Wynonna, secretly cheered by the moment of renewed camaraderie, waved her off. “You know what I mean.”

 

“Uh, I don’t,” Nedley said.

 

Wynonna met Nicole’s eyes, and again there was a moment where things were right between them as they shared a moment of amused exasperation, then she glanced at Robin and Jeremy, who were both laughing quietly. “I’ll explain it later,” she said.

 

“Could Doc see them?” Nicole asked suddenly, her tone mostly benign curiosity.

 

“I dunno. He didn’t show up until after Bulshar bit me…I think maybe? But I could still see them then too. Why?”

 

Nicole shook her head. “Something Maeve said. Just wondering if she made it up.”

 

“Maeve?”

 

“Maeve Perley?” Nicole said it as though she expected Wynonna to know the name; she remembered _Perley_ , sure, but that name meant Mattie and Gretta. And then Wynonna remembered Nicole off on a mission somewhere with Doc while she and Waverly had dealt with Kevin, and she realized they’d never really gotten a chance to debrief each other after the whole thing – events had just snowballed too fast after that.

 

“Teenage ghost witch,” Jeremy supplied, then paused and blinked at Nicole in confusion even as Wynonna threw up her hands in a _what the hell are you talking about?_ gesture. “Wait, what did she say about Doc?”

 

“She was probably just messing with him,” Nicole said calmly, soothingly.

 

Wynonna looked from one to the other. “Only one reason you’d be asking me about him seeing the stairs. Just answer him, Haught. I don’t care one way or the other. He can vampire it up with whoever he wants.”

 

Nedley frowned. “Um…vampire?”

 

“Long story,” all four said together.

 

“Come on, give,” Wynonna said.

 

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Fine. She called him Wyatt’s boyfriend.”

 

“What?! Are you kidding me?!” Jeremy yelped.

 

“Hey!” Robin protested, though mostly jokingly.

 

“Save it, nerds,” Wynonna said. “Besides,” she added to Jeremy, “You’ve got Smokeshow now.”

 

“Smokeshow?” Robin asked, looking to Nicole for help.

 

“Smokeshow the Bear,” Wynonna said, raising her eyebrows as if to ask _how is this not obvious?_.

 

Robin frowned, looking again to Nicole to translate for him. She smiled, though a little wistfully. “It’s okay. When she gives you ridiculous nicknames, it means you’re part of the family.”

 

“Damn straight, Haught Shot.”

 

“Speak for yourself, Earp.”

 

Wynonna sat down with them and sighed, knowing she was about to shatter the fragile camaraderie that had just started to reemerge. “Nicole – ”

 

Anger flared in Nicole’s eyes. “No. _No_ , Wynonna! Don’t you dare do this to me again.”

 

“You barely made it _here_! You’re gonna take on whatever’s in the Garden when you could barely make it through a stroll through the woods?”

 

“For her, yes. Besides, you’d _crawl_ up those damn stairs if you had to, and you know it!”

 

Jeremy and Robin exchanged glances. “We’ll help her,” Robin said.

 

“We all will,” Nedley said, standing behind Nicole and putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’re all in this together.”

 

Wynonna sighed. “If you get killed doing this, Waverly will _never_ forgive me.”

 

Nicole glared stubbornly at her.

 

So did everyone else.

 

Great. She had a mutiny on her hands.

 

She sighed, and tried one more time. “Waverly once told me that if anything happened to you, she would die.”

 

Nicole just kept glaring at her.

 

“Fine. But if you get your arm cut off or something, don’t come crying to me about it.”

 

Nicole rolled her eyes. But she also allowed Robin to pull her to her feet and Jeremy to hold onto her elbow to steady her until she could find her footing.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

In the end, their time in the Garden was nothing but a long series of blurry impressions and fragmentary memories. Nicole would never be sure if it was her lingering fatigue, emotional overload, or some sort of characteristic of the Garden itself, but she could never remember more than flashes.

 

The only clear memories she would have were related to Waverly – and she wasn’t sure if that was because they were of _Waverly_ or if they had made that strong an impression for another reason.

 

If somehow Waverly was able to pierce the fog in the Garden.

 

It didn’t matter, really.

 

She remembered seeing Waverly writhing in agony as tentacles (roots?) swung her around in the air.

 

She remembered their eyes meeting and everything – the noise, the chaos, the trees, everything – just _vanishing_ for a frozen second as their eyes found each other. “Waverly,” she’d whispered.

 

Then the tentacle had squeezed tighter and Waverly broke their eye contact with a strangled gasp.

 

She’d shrieked – _shrieked_ – Waverly’s name.

 

She remembered blue flame, Wynonna yelling, panic flaring in her chest as Waverly crashed to the ground.

 

She remembered scrambling across…something (more tree roots?)…ignoring everything in her desperate need to reach Waverly.

 

She remembered the moment skin touched skin, as she grabbed Waverly’s leg – the first part of her she could get to – and pulled her away from grasping tentacles.

 

And then, for a tiny, still moment, she collapsed on top of Waverly and drank in the feeling of just…holding her.

 

“I love you,” Waverly had whispered. For all that it had cost her to say it the first time, now it fell out of her mouth easy as breathing, and despite it all, something in Nicole’s heart settled and whispered the word _forever_.

 

Before she could reply, she felt Jeremy and Robin tugging her to her feet; Wynonna and Doc grabbed Waverly while Nedley shot blindly behind them into the Garden as they just…ran.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“We gotta stop!” Jeremy yelled after he and Robin caught Nicole as she stumbled over her own feet for the third time. “Wynonna, Nicole can’t go on like this!”

 

With a huff that was more nerves than impatience, Wynonna and Doc drew to a halt, circling around behind them to join Nedley as he guarded their backs. So far, it didn’t _seem_ like anything was following them, but they were all acutely aware of the suddenly-menacing form of the trees around them, and they were all keen to get out of the woods.

 

Waverly frowned and knelt next to Nicole, who was once again gasping for breath on the thawing ground, elbows braced on her knees and her hands holding up her head. As though just now realizing how bad of a state Nicole was in, Waverly ventured hesitantly, “Nicole…what…?”

 

“It’s a long story,” Jeremy said.

 

“Then tell me the short version,” Waverly insisted, her voice all steely determination.

 

Robin and Jeremy shared a look. “Well,” Robin said, “we figure Charlie healing her didn’t replace all the blood she lost. So she’s pretty anemic. The short version? Her body isn’t getting enough energy because her blood isn’t carrying enough oxygen…’cause there isn’t enough blood in there to do it.”

 

“It’s why she’s cold all the time, too,” Jeremy added.

 

That made sense. It also made her holding out the longest of the three against the drug Wynonna had slipped into their shots even more impressive.

 

Waverly was rubbing Nicole’s back soothingly as she caught her breath. She’d curled into Waverly’s warmth – which in itself was very unusual as she was the one who usually ran hot to Waverly’s perpetual chill – but hadn’t said anything. Waverly glanced between Nicole and Jeremy and Robin, freezing when she realized she could feel every vertebra in Nicole’s back. “She’s skin and bones…what the hell? Anemia doesn’t cause that.”

 

“We got captured,” Jeremy said. “They didn’t feed us much. Didn’t help the anemia problem. Not much iron in bread and water.”

 

“Oh, Nicole….” Waverly tucked Nicole’s head under her chin and held her close, chafing her arms with her hands to try and warm her up.

 

“Doesn’t matter,” Nicole said between gasps. “You’re back. You’re safe. We’ll…work the rest out.”

 

Waverly gestured with her chin, subtly shooing away Jeremy and Robin, who got the hint and went to stand by Doc, Wynonna, and Nedley. “Do you still have the ring?” she asked. “I can try to…I don’t know…. Maybe I can help?”

 

“I have it,” Nicole said, patting her pocket. “But if Charlie couldn’t put all that blood back….” She shrugged. “I think I just have to keep makin’ more of my own. I feel better than I did, I promise. Nedley’s been feeding me like a 4-H prize hog.”

 

“What?”

 

“Hamburgers. Steaks. Really disgusting kale and spinach smoothies. I think he’d feed me iron right from the ground if he thought I could chew it.”

 

Waverly kissed Nicole’s forehead. “He’s a good dad to you.”

 

“Better than my own,” Nicole agreed. She managed to pull in a full, deep breath. “Come on; we should go.”

 

“N-Nicole, I….”

 

“We’ll talk, I promise,” she said. “But look at them,” she said, gesturing towards the rest of their group, milling around in an anxious huddle. “They’re so hair-triggered, they’re gonna shoot _each other_ if we don’t get outta the woods.”

 

Waverly smiled and pulled Nicole to her feet, this time wrapping a supportive arm around her waist. “Let’s go, guys!” she yelled, then glanced up at Nicole with a smile. “Hey, Nicole?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I love you.”

 

The change in Nicole’s face was instantaneous; the lingering grief and stress vanished as she smiled, her eyes burning bright against the sky. “Oh, I love you too, Waverly Earp.” She saw Wynonna’s mouth open, no doubt ready to make a snarky remark, then she briefly met Nicole’s eyes, smiled slightly, and just led the way.

 

Waverly was dumbfounded. “D-did she just _pass up_ the opportunity to interrupt us?”

 

“I’ll, uh…explain later. But yes.”

 

“Hm.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“So,” Wynonna said later that night. Waverly, Robin, and Jeremy were holed up in the kitchen poring over research while Nedley cooked them some dinner; they were all acutely aware that their mission was only half-complete – the rest of the town was still missing, and they were determined to rescue everyone else.

 

“So,” Nicole echoed.

 

“We got her back.”

 

“We did.”

 

“So you gonna hit me, or…?”

 

“No. We’re gonna talk.”

 

Wynonna frowned. “I’d rather you just hit me.”

 

“I know, but I’m not letting you off that easy.” She sighed. “Besides, right now I’d probably miss and land on my ass.”

 

Wynonna sat down next to her. “Today took a lot out of you.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You didn’t have much left to…take out.”

 

“No.”

 

Wynonna glanced towards the kitchen. “It’s not over yet.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Nicole….” Wynonna shrugged. “Don’t…. Look, make sure you make it through all of this. I didn’t make it up earlier. If something happened to you, Waverly would die.” Nicole opened her mouth to protest. “She _told_ me that… _way_ back when you guys were first a thing. And I watched her fall to fucking pieces when the Widows bit you, okay? No matter what – _you_ _survive_ this. You got me?”

 

Nicole swallowed. “I got you.”

 

“Okay. Now rest up, because Nedley just threatened us with liver and onions for dinner tomorrow just to get some more iron into you.”

 

“…ew.”

 

“No kidding.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Does _everyone_ live here now?” Waverly asked, a little hesitantly, as she closed the door to her room behind her. Nicole had been quiet and withdrawn since dinner and she wasn’t quite sure what was going on behind her unusually still expression.

 

Nicole laughed once, a harsh, bitter sound that sounded far more like Wynonna than herself. “Whole town fits in the Homestead. Might as well. Besides, we’ve been working night and day. Well, except me. They make me sleep.”

 

“Nicole – ”

 

“No, I’m sorry. _You_ didn’t drug us and it’s not your fault I’m sick. I just….” She sighed. “I don’t know what I’m feeling, Waves. I mean, I’m so…you being here…it’s…a miracle, but everyone else is still gone; who knows if we’ll get them back, and I don’t think any of us have actually figured out who exactly we have to rescue – if just the _town_ is gone or if it’s everyone inside the whole damn Ghost River Triangle, and there’s so much to _do_ …and I’m so _tired_ , Waverly. I’m so tired.”

 

Waverly sighed and sat next to Nicole on the side of the bed. She reached out and wrapped her hands around one of Nicole’s clenched fists. She didn’t see _this_ Nicole often; she was so selfless – sometimes to a fault – that she very rarely allowed herself to show any sort of vulnerability. She preferred instead to put her own needs to the side and focus on supporting others instead, but every once in a while, cracks would show in the façade.

 

And when they did, this version of Nicole required very deft handling or she’d retreat behind her mask of competence.

 

“Jeremy told me a little bit about what happened. It must have been awful.” Nicole’s breath hitched and she glanced sideways at her. “I’m sorry Wynonna drugged you, sweetheart.” She saw Nicole start at the endearment; ‘sweetie’ she was used to, but this was a new one. But after a second, she smiled just slightly and Waverly continued, “I tried to wake you up before I ran after her. Stupid ring doesn’t work on whatever she drugged you with. Or I didn’t do it right. Or I wore it out trying to resurrect my dad again. Or maybe it can’t heal people anymore now that he’s really…gone. I don’t know.”

 

Nicole’s eyes warmed, just a little. “Wait, you did? You tried to wake me up?”

 

“Yeah. Of course. I mean, I didn’t want you in danger but I thought….” She shrugged. “You’re part of Team Earp.” Waverly’s eyes drifted away, a touch of old, old bashfulness on her face when she said, “You’re part of _me_. Leaving you out of it was wrong.”

 

“Thank you for saying that,” Nicole whispered.

 

Sensing an opening, Waverly scooted closer and stroked Nicole’s cheek. “I mean it. You’re in this all the way now. That’s part of why I….”

 

Nicole’s eyes shot to hers, knowing exactly what she was thinking of without needing words for it, then looked down at the floor. “It was a yes,” she murmured. “Waverly, it was a _yes_.”

 

Waverly smiled tenderly, remembering that long, frozen moment where they’d just stared at each other, disbelief and wonder in equal measure in Nicole’s eyes. “I know that, silly. How many times did you tell me you knew I was saying ‘I love you’ without actually saying it? I’m not the only one who does that, you know?”

 

Nicole sighed and leaned against Waverly. “It was so cold…in that cell. Robin and Jeremy…it was good not to be alone, I guess, but looking at them….  They had each other and it was just me, and I sat there holding the ring and imagining it. What our wedding would be like.” Waverly smiled again, this time kissing her temple. “Think Nedley would walk me down the aisle?”

 

“Of _course_ he will.”

 

“You sure? When I told him I don’t talk to my parents…he couldn’t even say the word ‘gay.’ He just asked if it was because of ‘who I am.’”

 

“Oh, baby, he loves you like a daughter.” She shrugged. “He’s a small town sheriff, honey. He might not know the right words but he’s here for you. And maybe you didn’t notice, but he’s basically adopted Robin and Jeremy too.”

 

“Really?” Nicole smiled. “Guess I was too busy pretending to like those damn smoothies to pay attention.” She sighed. “But, Waverly, there’s one prob…I mean…every time I pictured it…our flower girl…”

 

“…was Alice,” Waverly said. “I know. I didn’t mean we should go to City Hall _tomorrow_ , Nicole. I just…I needed you to understand that this is forever for me, okay? I’ve never had anything I could trust in for forever. Until I met you.” She gently caressed Nicole’s cheek. “You’re the very first thing in my life I _ever_ thought could be forever.”

 

Nicole turned and made true eye contact for the first time. Her eyes were brimming with tears. “Forever,” she whispered. “I like the sound of that.”

 

Waverly was the first to move, scooting forward and gently pressing her lips against Nicole’s. It got very intense, very quickly – their bodies demanding the dramatic reunion circumstances in the Garden had prevented – but it was only a couple of minutes later when Nicole found herself out of breath and wavering shakily from side to side. “I…I’m sorry. I’m just….”

 

Waverly just pulled her close, then gently pushed her down onto the mattress. “You need to rest and heal up,” she acknowledged. “It’s okay, baby. I just wanna hold you, if that’s okay?”

 

“ _Okay_?” Nicole stared at her. “Waverly, the only way I got any sleep at all was to take your pillow and one of your blankets with me to the couch.”

 

“You could’ve slept in here,” Waverly said, but distractedly, as though she knew even before she said it that of course that hadn’t been an option.

 

Nicole’s voice was firm and brooked no disagreements: “No. Not without you. No.”

 

It took a few moments for their bodies to reacquaint themselves, then somehow they both melted into each other at the same moment. If Nicole held Waverly a little tighter than usual, and if Waverly spent a few extra moments drinking in Nicole’s natural vanilla scent, neither seemed to mind.

 

Nicole was almost asleep when Waverly said, “Nicole?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“ _Does_ everyone live here now?” She gestured to the foot of the bed, where Calamity had curled up between their feet just like she would have at Nicole’s house.

 

Nicole laughed again, but this time it was her usual gentle chuckle. “Yeah, basically. I slept on the couch downstairs. Robin and Jeremy took the bed in the barn. Nedley slept on an air mattress in the living room.”

 

“He was watching over you,” Waverly said, a smile in her voice.

 

“Yeah, I guess.” But she saw the realization come over Nicole in a wave that shattered what was left of her defenses and brought tears to her eyes – he _had_ been watching over her.

 

“Baby, he is _so_ walking you down the aisle. He’ll probably fight Wynonna for the honor of marrying us.” A pause. “Nicole?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I love you. Thank you for coming after me.”

 

“I love you too. And I’ll come after you for the rest of our lives. Forever.”

 

“Just…next time?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Wait a week or two so Robin and Jeremy don’t have to basically carry you back to the Homestead. Don’t think I didn’t see that, Nicole Rayleigh Haught.”

 

Nicole mock sighed. “I should never have told you my middle name.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

A week later, they were no closer to figuring out how to get the rest of the population of Purgatory out of the Garden, but at least they had determined that it was _only_ the population of Purgatory that was missing, and they were ninety-nine percent sure they were somewhere in the Garden.

 

One night after dinner, Wynonna caught up with Nicole in the barn, where she had just finished a light workout with Robin, whose self-defense skills had progressed to the point that they gave her recovering strength and stamina a workout without overtaxing her.

 

Wynonna handed her a bottle of Gatorade and sat on a bale of hay. “So,” she said.

 

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “So.”

 

“I’m sober. You can breathalyze me if you need to.”

 

“Ah. So we’re doing this now.”

 

Wynonna shrugged. “Nerd squad’s getting nowhere. Grocery store’s running out of fresh produce and meat ‘cause no one’s there to take deliveries. Figure sooner or later we’re going to have to just say, ‘Screw the plan,’ and try to go find everybody. So we should…finish this.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry, dude.” She stopped herself and tried again. “I’m sorry, Nicole. I was selfish and I’m a coward and I shoulda let you be there.”

 

It was the ‘Nicole’ that did it. It was the ‘Nicole’ that convinced her that Wynonna was being sincere. Because if Wynonna was deflecting in any way, it would have been Haught – or one of her ridiculous puns. She chuckled wryly. “‘Course you’d take the wind out of my sails. Wynonna – ”

 

“I can’t get you in a situation where you could die. I’d lose Waverly if I did…if _you_ did… and I _can’t_ lose Waverly.”

 

Nicole exhaled. She couldn’t exactly argue with that, could she? Losing Waverly would be like losing the light and the air and the heart thumping in her chest. Losing Waverly would mean losing… _everything_.

 

And although she absolutely did not approve of the method or the outcome, she couldn’t argue with the notion that it was basically the same thing as Wynonna knocking Waverly out and locking her in the tool box in the bed of her truck. Backhanded compliment, in a way – unilaterally making the decision to take her out of danger. As though she were family.

 

“You’re making it hard to be mad at you, Earp.”

 

Wynonna smiled, looking down at her folded hands. “And I can’t lose you either, Haught Shot,” she said in a rush. “You’re kinda family now.”

 

Despite herself, Nicole smiled. “You don’t know the half of it.”

 

“You _didn’t_.”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

Wynonna blinked. “ _She_ did? Wait, on the way to the Garden…you mean you really had Bul…Juli…the _ring_ because she proposed? Dude!” She rushed forward and grabbed Nicole in a hug.

 

Nicole staggered back and gasped, “Why do you only do this when it knocks me over?” Still, she smiled and squeezed Wynonna back. “Maybe hug me when I’m, you know, at my best?” She pulled back and was startled to see that Wynonna was crying. “Hey…um…I hope those are happy tears?”

 

Wynonna sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. “Damn right they are.” She stepped back and shook her head. “Waves has always deserved the best.” She shrugged. “Glad she got it.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

They sat in silence for a few long moments. “Wynonna?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Please don’t ever….”

 

“I won’t. Can’t promise you Waves won’t, but I won’t.”

 

“She won’t. She tried to fix it before she came after you.”

 

Another few moments of quiet. “I mean it. If you’re willing to hook up with us Earps and all that means…from now on, you get all the crappy parts along with all the good parts. You _sure_ you’re ready for that?”

 

“Oh, more than.” Nicole smiled gently. “It’s worth it. Waverly’s worth so much more than all of the crappy parts put together.”

 

Wynonna made a face. “Gross.”

 

“Oh, come on. You love that I’m a ridiculous sap when it comes to your sister.”

 

Wynonna held the façade for a second longer, then dissolved into a smile. “Damn right I do.” Another few moments of silence, then Wynonna shook her head admiringly. “I don’t think I ever realized how much alike you two are.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Waves would move heaven and Earth itself for someone she loves.” Wynonna shrugged. “You would too, wouldn’t you?”

 

“With a smile on my face the whole damn time,” Nicole said. “So would you, though.” Wynonna scoffed and waved her hand dismissively, but Nicole could also see that she’d scored a point. “I mean it. You Earps…you give everything you have to people you love. I…admire…that.”

 

She could tell Wynonna had hit her limit even before she made a face and got up from her bale of hay. She walked towards the door of the barn, then stopped and looked back with a truly devilish grin. “Oh, dude, I am gonna give you the _best_ bachelorette party!”

 

She winced, but waited until Wynonna had left before she sighed, “Oh boy.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Another week later and they were all clustered once again around the Homestead kitchen table – even Doc, who had been re-invited into the house once everyone was convinced he wasn’t going to try to bite Waverly.

 

What had happened to change that was a mystery to be confronted later.

 

“So, Team Earp,” Wynonna said.

 

But before she could say anything more, Jeremy said, “I hope you realize none of us are eating or drinking anything you might put in front of us right now.”

 

Wynonna snorted. “Nope. Learned my lesson. Haught Stuff told me exactly what would happen to me if I tried, and it ain’t pretty.”

 

Jeremy held up an invisible glass and toasted Nicole, who was sitting with an arm around Waverly. She grinned back at him and tipped her own imaginary glass back at him.

 

“ ** _Any_** _way_ ,” Wynonna said, “I think it’s time for Plan B.”

 

“Aren’t we on, like, Plan R by now?”

 

“Can it, Smokeshow.”

 

“Wynonna,” Waverly chided. “He’s right. We need some kind of plan. And ‘screw it, we don’t have a plan’ is _not_ a plan.”

 

“We need to get them back. Get _everyone_ back,” Wynonna said stubbornly. “And if we have to go back and just start shooting the hell out of everything in that damn place, then I say we do it.” Wynonna eyed Waverly. “And I think you should stay here.”

 

 “ _What?!_ ”

 

“The ring works like a key. Long as one of these guys can find the stairs for us, we should be good to go. If you get anywhere near that place again…” She sighed. “…you might get stuck in there again.”

 

Nicole winced. “Waves, much as I hate to say it, she has a point.”

 

Wynonna took a deep breath. “And I think Nicole should stay here with you.”

 

“Wynonna Earp, you _promised_!”

 

“I promised I wouldn’t knock you out. I’m not. I’m asking you to take her to Austin for tacos, Nicole!”

 

Waverly frowned in confusion. “Tacos?”

 

“Or go get matching flaming phoenix butt tattoos!” Wynonna added, ignoring Waverly’s question. “Just stay the hell away from the Garden!”

 

“Uh…” Waverly raised a hand. “ _Pretty_ sure I missed something here.”

 

In the end, the argument lasted over an hour, though Nicole realized twenty minutes into it that she and Waverly were both going to lose. Wynonna was right that it was dangerous for Waverly to get near the Garden, and the others, led by Nedley, had teamed up to argue that if Waverly shouldn’t be going, then Nicole should stay with her to provide some sort of nebulous safety in case of…rogue tumbleweeds or something.

 

Once everyone filed out of the kitchen, leaving Waverly, Nicole, and Wynonna, Nicole sighed. “This is not what I meant to happen when we had that talk.”

 

“I know,” Wynonna said. “But I’m not risking her getting hurt here by herself, and I’m not risking _you_ getting hurt or stuck in the Garden when she’s here. You’re not winning this one, Nicole.”

 

“Apparently not.” She bit her lip and took a deep breath. “Thank you for at least telling me about it, I guess. And for not, you know, knocking me unconscious.”

 

“Yeah,” Waverly added. “No more locking people in your tool chest, yeah?”

 

Wynonna rolled her eyes, then took a deep breath. “Thanks. Both of you.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Everyone else had been gone for three interminable days when a long, loud, high-pitched screech brought both Nicole and Waverly to their knees and left them both reeling on the edge of unconsciousness.

 

“What the hell was that?” Nicole gasped, staggering to her feet before helping Waverly up.

 

When Waverly stood, there was a steely, far-off look to her eyes that sent a brief shiver down Nicole’s spine; it was the first time she could really see the _power_ behind the ‘angel’ but it vanished when Waverly shook herself and said, her voice trembling a bit, “I don’t know, but I think we should go – ”

 

“We can’t go near the Garden,” Nicole said, reflexively, as startled as Waverly at the blatant fear in her voice. “It’ll take you, Waves; I can’t…not again….”

 

Waverly stopped her rambling with a kiss. “No,” Waverly said, stroking her cheek with soft, compassionate fingers. “We should go to _town_. I-I don’t know why I know this, but I think…I think it’s okay now. I think whatever they did…it worked.”

 

Nicole blinked at her blankly for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure. Why not.” But she stopped Waverly at the doorway anyway. “But…please, Waverly. If they’re not there. Please promise you won’t go into the woods. Please.”

 

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, or why she felt she had to be sure, but Waverly’s eyes softened with the look that had always meant _I love you_ until the moment she’d said the words aloud. “Sweetheart, I love you. I won’t do that to you. I promise. And if I feel it calling to me again, I promise I’ll tell you, and I’ll let you tie me up in the barn to keep me here. Okay?”

 

“Thank you.” Then Nicole tilted her head. “You know, not that I’m complaining even a little bit…but where did ‘sweetheart’ come from?” Waverly blushed and ducked her head. Nicole tilted her chin up and kissed Waverly deeply. “No. Don’t be embarrassed. Please. I’ve been biting my tongue on sweetheart for months…can I use it now too?”

 

Waverly sighed as they walked to her Jeep. “I don’t…time passes weird the Garden. You said we were there…three weeks?”

 

“Almost four.”

 

“It didn’t feel that long at all. Maybe a couple of days? But the…tentacle things….” Nicole bit her tongue; this was the very first time that Waverly had mentioned anything about what had happened to her and though she was sure that knowing would be painful, she didn’t want to stop Waverly if she really wanted to talk about it. “They hurt. I…tried to distract myself with good memories, you know? But…when something hurts a lot for a long time…you get…”

 

Nicole sighed gently, thinking of the long hours in that cell in her self-imposed isolation. Robin and Jeremy had tried so hard to be there for her, but she’d kept a distance from them, worried that their kindness would break her. “You think of what you never said.” She reached out and lifted Waverly’s free hand to her lips, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “Like _yes_.”

 

“Yeah. And I remembered that I…called you my ‘best baby’ to Wynonna before I ever said it to you, and then I even called you ‘my love’ to Gretta, and I realized that I’d never….” She shrugged. “I always wanted to call someone ‘sweetheart.’ In a I’m-not-talking-to-a-cute-puppy kind of way.” She slid Nicole a gently teasing look. “You got to ‘baby’ first, so I figured I’d take ‘sweetheart.’ I’ve got a bunch. I made a list.”

 

Of course she did. Of _course_ she did.

 

Nicole took a deep breath. “I love you,” she said, feeling a little foolish that that was the best thing she could come up with; it had felt like she couldn’t _stop_ herself from saying so at any time of the day ever since Waverly had come back, but surely she could come up with something a little more suave after that?

 

But her momentary bashfulness fell away when Waverly smiled gently. “I love you too,” she said, as she had dozens of times since her return – as though now that the words had passed her lips once, she couldn’t help but repeat them anytime the thought crossed her head. “Sweetheart.”

 

Nicole eyed her, this time with a grin. “So…what else is on this list of yours?”

 

“Sure you want to know? They’re not all so innocent.”

 

Nicole swallowed hard. “Um….”

 

Waverly laughed. “Come on, Wynonna would never forgive me if there weren’t a couple off-color ones in the collection.” She grinned slyly. “But I’ll save ‘em for in front of her, if you want to freak her out sometime.”

 

Nicole chuckled. They drove in silence for a few minutes, still holding each others’ hands. Waverly drove up to Purgatory’s main street, then glanced at Nicole in surprise when they both saw someone walking towards the municipal building.

 

“Is…is that…?”

 

Waverly parked and hopped out of the Jeep, calling out, “Chrissy?”

 

Chrissy Nedley stopped and turned. “Waverly? Do you know where my dad is? I was waiting at home for him to evacuate from the fire, and all of a sudden…I must’ve…blacked out or something? Did the moon finally set?”

 

Waverly and Nicole exchanged glances. “I’ll try texting Wynonna,” Waverly whispered as Nicole led Chrissy inside.

 

A few seconds later, though, Wynonna came running down the road, gasping, Nedley and the others hot on her heels.

 

“What the hell?” Wynonna yelled. “Thought we left you at the Homestead!”

 

Waverly frowned and opened her mouth to call Nicole back when, as if by magic, she reappeared at her side. “What’s going on?” Nicole asked. Then: “Wait,” she said, looking over at Nedley. “Chrissy’s inside,” she told him, her voice full of compassion.

 

His body hardly moved, his face hardly twitched, but they could all see the enormous weight that lifted off his shoulders. He stopped to briefly squeeze Nicole’s shoulder then headed inside.

 

“How’d you guys get here so fast?” Wynonna asked. “I mean, not sure how _we_ did either, but….”

 

“Wynonna, it’s been three days,” Waverly said.

 

Wynonna’s jaw dropped. “No shit?” She glanced at Doc. “Felt like…”

 

“…fifteen minutes?” he said, spreading his hands wide as if to indicate it was in fact a wild guess.

 

Without really thinking about it, Nicole pulled Waverly gently against her and wrapped her arms around her from behind. Just thinking about the Garden made a part of her ache – the part of her that was just a little terrified that she would lose Waverly again – and the only way to convince her heart Waverly was okay, that Waverly was _here_ , was to hold her.

 

Then Waverly turned and met her eyes, and Nicole remembered the word _forever_.

 

They turned back to Wynonna as one. “So what…?”

 

Wynonna shrugged, an unusually helpless look on her face. “I don’t…really know. There was a tree. I think I stabbed it.”

 

“Y-you stabbed…a tree…?” Nicole stammered.

 

“Yeah. With Peacekeeper.”

 

“…Peacekeeper…the…sword…?”

 

“Yep.” She shrugged again. “And then the Garden screamed and popped us out at the edge of the woods. And…put everyone else back where they were? I think?”

 

Waverly was leaning heavily against Nicole, as though relief was finally starting to sink in and it left her weak in its wake. She pulled Waverly a little closer and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. “I-it’s over?” Waverly asked.

 

Wynonna smiled a tired, world-weary smile. “Well, I think we got about a hundred new problems but for now…yeah, it’s over.”

 

“New problems?”

 

But Wynonna waved Nicole off. “They’ll keep. You guys go…” She waved vaguely, but smiled when Waverly drew Nicole’s arms closer around her belly. “…just…go. Go be romantic dorks for a day. We can go back to saving the world tomorrow.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, I realize I mostly hand-waved the actual rescuing of people, mostly because I'd rather do that than make a wild speculation that would turn out to be very wrong (which, I realize, is ridiculous, because the whole thing is going to turn out to be very different than the show, but whatever). 
> 
> Also, I know I seem stuck on the Nicole-is-in-bad-shape thing, but there's no way you can convince me she would be sitting on the railing eating carrots after Charlie/Julian died unless she basically had no energy to do anything else, and in the shot where everyone is drugged, she's shown as very pale, with dark circles under her eyes, so....
> 
> And, finally, the "hundred new problems" is my recognition of the fact that since the show's going for another season, clearly they can't fix EVERYthing.


End file.
